Organized by: Femke Speelberg, Dept. of Drawings and Prints, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Session Co-sponsored by the Association of Print Scholars (APS)

One of the most revolutionary changes to the field of printmaking over the course of the long sixteenth century was the growing role and influence of the print publisher. While still a rare, or almost undocumented phenomenon around 1500, by the turn of the following century the print market was largely controlled by individual entrepreneurs and well-established publishing firms. The business of print production necessitated new structures of organization, a division of labor and the creation of sales and marketing techniques that profoundly influenced choices of style, technique, subject matter and formatting, as well as taste and collecting practices.

While neglected in early print scholarship in favor of the artistic contributions of the inventor and or printmaker, in recent years much new information about the role of the publisher has come to light through conferences, exhibitions and publications. Much of this work is (by necessity) of monographic nature, focusing on individual publishers and their output. This session seeks to highlight in particular new research that further elucidates the wide-ranging functions performed by the early-modern print publisher, and through a combination of papers expand our comprehension of the local, national and transnational influence of this new profession on the print market.

Papers are encouraged to focus on:

— Early print publishers and entrepreneurs

— Specialized publishers

— Publishers commissioning prints

— Working relationships between publishers and printmakers

— (Exclusive) Collaborations with individual artists

— Publishers shaping the print market / collecting practices

— Publishers influencing format / specialized subject matter

— Publishers sourcing prints from elsewhere

— Networks of Print Publishers

— Rivalry and Competition between Print Publishers

— Selling techniques

— A Publishers Print stock and stock lists

Please submit an abstract (max. 200 words) and a brief bio (not to exceed 300 words) to Femke Speelberg (Femke.Speelberg@metmuseum.org) by March 15, 2018. Papers will be chosen for one or possibly two sessions to be held during the annual meeting of the Sixteenth Century Society in Albuquerque, New Mexico. You will receive notification from the conveners by April 2, 2018.